Black Leopards shine at Thanksgiving tourney Black Leopards shine at Thanksgiving tourney (December 05, 2003)

The Ballistic U14 Black Leopards took third place in the Livermore Thanksgiving Tournament, playing in the tough "A" flight.

Game 1 was a 1-1 tie against Castro Valley. A scoreless first half was highlighted by lockdown defense by Davin Heaton, Tim Gaisor, and Shane Schvaneveldt, who was one of the MVPs of the weekend. The best chance for the Leopards came when Nate Weber rung one off the crossbar. CV scored with eight minutes left in the game, but the Leopards didn't quit. Gaisor made a run down the left and crossed a ball to Matt Carlucci, who dropped a perfect ball to Justin Mullaney. He let it rip from 30 yards with less than three minutes left for the tie.

Game 2 was against the hometown Cobras. Tough defense, highlighted by some spectacular saves and slides by GK Jacob Buchenauer and great midfield play by Pat Darrow and Bryant Dante, kept the first half scoreless. The Cobras scored midway through the second half, but the Cardiac Leopards weren't done yet. Carlucci took a ball from the right corner of the goalbox, dribbled to the middle, went back to the right, and let it fly. The shot found the net with, again, less than three minutes left for the tie.

Game 3 was a must-win to go on to a fourth game. After a scoreless first half, the Leopards turned up the heat. Barry Moore sent a great pass to Jay Guilmart on the left, who popped it over the Union City keeper for the icebreaker. Schvaneveldt and Gaisor again led a great effort to shut down the UC strikers, and the Leopards moved on with a 2-0 win.

The consolation final was a tough match against the Livermore Lasers, which the Black Leopards won 5-1.

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